


A Father's Gift

by Camellianswer



Category: Rockman X | Mega Man X
Genre: Computer Viruses, Douglas is only briefly mentioned, Errors, Gen, Maverick Virus, Wily is a horrible dad, maybe? - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2020-06-02 18:58:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19447573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Camellianswer/pseuds/Camellianswer
Summary: Dr. Light wasn't the only one to leave upgrade capsules for his creation...





	A Father's Gift

He found it in the murky depths of a cavern that had once been a collection of buildings. Long since sunk into the ground, the technology here had crumbled into rusty piles that shattered at the slightest touch.

Except for one thing. A tall capsule with a familiar shape.

Zero raised a hand and rapped his knuckles on the glassy shell. A fine layer of dust rose off the surface and hung around him. Nothing activated. Perhaps it was broken. That was a shame. Whatever wondrous weapon data had once been accessible in there was now lost.

He had only taken a single step when a sickly whirring sounded behind him. Turning, a tiny light flickered in the center of the capsule, pale and brown like an ancient film. More whirring and clicks and hisses escaped from its base as it struggled mightily against the shackles of a century of decay. A cloud of dust puffed out, and, rid of that obstruction, an image began to appear on the screen.

All of a sudden a horrible frequency rang out, dug its fingers into his skull and held on, dragged him down. His body made a strangled noise of pain and shock. Zero staggered against the capsule even though he knew he had to get as far away from it as possible. Pain stabbed through his head, inconceivable pain and confusion that was oddly, terribly familiar.

“Zero, my masterpiece…”

That voice.

Flawed, shattered, maddening data was forced in. He couldn’t get away from it. Couldn’t get away from that voice. Couldn’t get away from that rabid, ravaging pain. Shaking, helpless, the unseen onslaught dragged him to his knees and his head fell back and he could see that hated face that he’d only seen bits and pieces of in his darkest dreams.

“I trust all has gone well for you. This is one of many capsules I’ve placed around the world that only you can open. I’ve left a few gifts inside that should serve you well in your mission.”

More waves of that shrieking insanity, trying to input ridiculously flawed data. Paralyzing. Some gift it was.

“I know you can do it, Zero. You are my final legacy. Make me proud…bring him down. Finish this glorious rivalry, my son.”

Zero ground his fingers against the cement, battling the overloading pain. His jaw tensed as he tried to speak, tried to tell the good doctor exactly where he could go, but nothing more than animal growls escaped. He wouldn’t be able to keep this up much longer.

The horrible frequency began to fade, ebbing back like a lowering tide. Zero sagged and sucked in air desperately, pushing back critical overheat. The part of him that was miraculously conscious after that rapacious invasion of his data commanded his limbs to move, to get him out of short-range transmitter reach before maybe the frequency started up again.

He was still trying to get his functions back to normal when he heard it.

“̷̖̲͗̽̏̾͝ͅZ̷͍̖͔͍̮̹͇͚͙̊̽̅̅̎̿͑̀̌̚͠e̶̛̹̗͇͊̊͌̆̈́̌̒̾r̴̦͇̪͖͙͙͉̮̱̜̗͉͉̔̏̇̂̄̄̄͘͜͝ó̶̝̺̪̙̻͕̖̙̱̣̈́͝…̸̱̪̜̳̣̝̰̘͍͎̣̒̇̂͊ͅȊ̵͎̺̞̙̭̱’̷̧̡̧̠̲̞̭͕͈̬͌̔̒̈͛m̴͉̗̥̺̱̬̽̓͐͆́̑̕͝ ̴̭͓̓ś̷̢̖̝̣͇̺̱̿̈͛͂͊̇̑̒ͅo̴̡̨̪͖͍̜̬͔̱̫̼͍̩͂͆̉̃͠r̴̡̮̤͉͉͇͖̬͎͖̪͔͚͋̄̽̃̆̅͐̋̂̑̕̕͜͝͝ŗ̴̢͕̫̳̮͑̆̾̊̕͜͝y̶̢̻͕͔͓̬̙̼̣̟̦͉̼͙͗͆͛̌̒̏͛̔͐͘͜͝͠!̶̨͇̞̠̇́̏̏͊͛”̶̛̛͍͍̗̮̗̯̹͈̮̃̐̾̊̽̿͂̇͜͝

Someone’s voice, jittery and glitching out. It sounded awful. Zero hated it, hated it blindly and passionately.

“̵̢̳͓̞͓͍̺͕͓͕̙̐͗ͅͅİ̴̧̈́̃͗͝͠͝ ̷̥͖̓̆̆̈́́̓͝͝d̷̢̪͈̼͚̫̜͖̍̐̏̊̒i̷̥̬̣͓̹̗͚̬̺̖͌́̐͒̄͌̚͜͝d̵̨̢̳̺̱͌̓̐n̶̩̬͉͓͕͌̊͒̆̂̋͌͒̆̕͝’̸̨̛̘͇̭̦̻͍͋͊̈͛̈́̾̕͘͝ť̵̪̭̭͛̎̂̅͆͜͝͝ ̸̢̢̢̢̮̪͕̱̘̬͛̈́̀̊̄k̶̢̲̹̰̳̟͈̣̬̈́̍͐̿̂̓͂̈n̴̹̫̻̩͕̰̲̜͓̓͒͜ō̷̡̫͍̻̬̭̪̩͙̓̅̅̍̓͌̎͐̿̊ẉ̷̹͙͚̳̹͉͙̄̊̋͝…̸̢̺̂̽͐̋̔͋̆͘f̴̨̖͒̽̎̉ó̶̲͕̜̼͈̤͕͉̗̰͙̍̊͌̀͒̐͐̕̚͜͝͝͠ŗ̵͎͑̈́̽̐̾̔́͑̎̕͠͝ģ̷̦͔͍̺̼͕̳̤͒̋̋ĩ̶̪̰̫̥̩͕̱̞̔̐v̴̨̨͖̬̤̟͇̫̩̩̭͈̰́̎̆̇͘̕̕͜͠ͅě̸̢̟̺̗̻̼̩̍́́̐̅̐̅̐͝ ̵̬̝̻̣͉̆̊͛͌́m̷̰͛̈́̚e̴̜̰̣̥̱͔̣̖̳͕͔͙̤͌̈̏̎͛̎̔̔̆̈́͘͝͝,̷̨̃̈́͋̔̍̂ ̵̧̡̢̥̯̠̖̠̼͎̜̆̀͐̎͜m̶̻̹̻̳̪̺̊̽̈́͐̿̋̌̆̾̊y̴̛͙̠̲͙̬͕̮͒͒̓̑͋̂̉͐̓̆͝ ̶̡̡͙͇̯̬̖̩̙̩̝͍̼̜͈͒̅̍̿̈́͛͆̓͌͋͛̎͝s̸̢̡͉̩̥̮͇̥͕̹̼͈̆̔͂͒̈͋̌̋̀͛͗̅̽͜͝ȯ̸̧͍̞̱͈͈̖̊̋̈́̾͗̎̋̔̿͒͝͝͝n̷̛̰̥̈́́̉͝!̶̨̡̦̣͉̲̲̝̮͚͕͓̫̤͓̈̃͐͌̐͌̎͝”̶͉̻̥̬͔̹̠̮̼̇͗̌͒̆̊̉̈́̐͑̓͊̆̚̚

“Stop…” Zero got out through clenched teeth. He lifted his arm, shakily raising his saber. “Don’t mess with me!”

KZZZT-ZZZTTZZZZ-TTTTCH

The capsule shuddered and died with Zero’s saber embedded in the base. The last shreds of reserve power drained out of the capsule and Zero sensed all of its internal functions shut down for good. And that voice finally stopped.

At the time, he didn’t notice that he’d blacked out…

* * *

He awoke a short time later. A cloud of confusion hung over him, making the action of taking a step an uncertain thing. A small chunk of memory was lost, and more was actively being erased. Like he’d run into a bad data package or something. Well, bad package or not, the last thing he needed was a blank spot in his memory. He halted the data recall purge.

Once he’d gotten his bearings – and retrieved his saber from a pile of junk – Zero proceeded through the room. Just finish the sweep and then meet up with X again. Never mind that his legs kept trying to give way underneath him. Zero not only had great endurance, but he was terrible at listening to his own body and ignored the strange errors that kept popping up.

* * *

By the time he reached X, that had worn off. He just had a strange sense of something…déjà vu, perhaps. Like something was familiar, or he was close to remembering something.

X noticed something off about his friend. “Zero? You alright?”

“Yeah, don’t worry about me.” Zero smiled at him. “You find anything on your end?”

“No. Not a thing. Looks like Douglas was right.”

“Great. Looks like we’ll finally be getting some leave, then.”

“Just to be safe, I still think someone should be stationed here for a while…” he looked at Zero again, concern beginning to show in his eyes. “You sure you’re alright? You look…tired.”

“I’m good.” He put his hand on X’s head and rubbed it a little in a playful motion. “Stop finding things to worry about or you’ll blow a fuse.”

X chuckled and pulled away. “It’s just, you’re always working yourself until you drop…”

“Maybe then they’d give me time off to sleep.” He joked back.

“Come to think of it, when’s the last time we got a recharge in a proper sleep capsule?”

Capsule…

The nagging sensation latched onto that.

Something like a capsule…

And then when he thought he was close, it all vanished again, this time for good.

“Who knows? Anyways, let’s hurry up and go back. We’ll insist on a break this time…saving the world can wait a few hours.”

“Zero!”


End file.
